Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Efficiency Of Solar Cell Design And Materials, Grant Vonderhaar

Missouri S&T’s Peer to Peer

Fossil fuels have dominated the energy world ever since their introduction in the Industrial Revolution, and the world has grown more dependent on them in the Postmodern Era. However, the limited amount of fossil fuels in the world poses a problem for future generations; solar energy is the solution to this potential future energy crisis. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of solar panel materials so that solar panels can be refined until they can replace fossil fuels entirely. In this study, I have researched designs for solar cells and determined the most efficient design …

Advancement Of Oxygen Biosensor In Escherichia Coli, Caitlyn Meiser

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Microbial biosensors can be used to provide information about the cells’ environment in large-scale fermentations. In this project an oxygen sensitive biosensor is being developed in Escherichia coli to determine what kind of conditions cells are growing in: aerobic or anaerobic. This project specifically studies expression from the fumarate and nitrate reductase (FNR) promoter (P_FNR) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In fluorescence experiments, the expression levels of green fluorescent protein (GFP) were used to quantify the effectiveness of the P_FNR in the DH5α, MG1655 and BL21 strains of E. coli. The negative control of the experiments, …

Thermo-Stability And Active Site Structure Of Fe/N/C Electrocatalyst For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Chi Chen, Yu-Jiao Lai, Zhi-You Zhou, Xin-Sheng Zhang, Shi-Gang Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of Fe/N/C electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is vital for the large-scale applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Understanding the active site structure will contribute to the rational design of highly active catalysts. In this study, the as-prepared Fe/N/C catalyst based on poly-m-phenylenediamine (PmPDA-FeN_x/C) catalyst with the high ORR activity was subjected to the high-temperature heat treatment again at 1000 ~1500 ^oC. The degradation of in the ORR activity of PmPDA-FeN_x/C by with various heat treatments was correlated to the change of elemental compositions, chemical states and textural properties. As the …

A New Type Carbon Composited Molybdenum Doped Vanadium Oxide Nanowires As A Cathode Material For Sodium Ion Batteries, Guang-Rui Zhang, Li-Qiang Hu, Bao-Zhu Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

In recent years, the development of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) has been limited due to the insufficient lithium resource and increasing cost. As a promising candidate, sodium ion batteries (SIBs) with the similar electrochemical mechanism and lower cost than LIBs are developing rapidly. However, as a result of the larger radius of Na⁺ compared with Li⁺, the crystalline structures of the most electrode materials are damaged severely during the intercalation of Na⁺, which limits the electrochemical properties of SIBs. Thus, developing new types of electrode materials for SIBs is particularly important. Among the cathode materials, …

Diagenesis And Formation Stress In Fracture Conductivity Of Shaly Rocks; Experimental-Modelling Approach In Co2-Rock Interactions, Abiola Olukola Olabode

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In large scale subsurface injection of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as obtainable in carbon sequestration programs and in environmentally friendly hydraulic fracturing processes (using supercritical CO₂), long term rock-fluid interaction can affect reservoir and seal rocks properties which are essential in monitoring the progress of these operations. The mineralogical components of sedimentary rocks are geochemically active particularly under enormous earth stresses, which generate high pressure and temperature conditions in the subsurface. While geomechanical properties such as rock stiffness, Poisson’s ratio and fracture geometry largely govern fluid flow characteristics in deep fractured formations, the effect of mineralization can …

The Continuous Synthesis Of Pd Supported On Fe3o4 Nanoparticles: A Highly Effective And Magnetic Catalyst For Co Oxidation, Hany A. Elazab, Sherif Moussa, Kendra W. Brinkley, B. Frank Gupton, M. Samy El-Shall

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We report a facile approach used for the simultaneous reduction and synthesis of a well dispersed magnetically separable palladium nanoparticle supported on magnetite (Pd/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles) via continuous flow synthesis under microwave irradiation conditions, using a Wave Craft's microwave flow reactor commercially known as Arrhenius One, which can act as a unique process for the synthesis of highly active catalysts for carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation catalysis. The prepared catalysts are magnetic, which is an advantage in the separation process of the catalyst from the reaction medium. The separation process is achieved by applying a strong external magnetic field …

Experimental Study And Modeling Of Smart Loss Circulation Materials; Advantages And Promises, Ahmed Khaled Abdelmaksoud Mansour

LSU Master's Theses

Lost circulation occurs when mud or cement is lost to the formation while drilling. Lost circulation has been a huge problem and may cause heavy financial costs in the form of lost rig time, mud fluid and in severe cases, well blowout with serious environmental and safety consequences. Despite extensive advances in the last couple of decades, lost circulation materials used today still have disadvantages such as damaging production zones, plugging drilling tools or failing to seal the fractures. Here, we propose a new class of smart expandable lost circulation material (LCM) to remotely control the expanding force and functionality …

Applications Of Cfd Simulations On Chemical Processing Equipment Designs, Gongqiang He

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this work is to achieve process intensification by seeking optimal equipment design with CFD investigations. In this work, two projects on chemical equipment design have been discussed.

The first project is on design and optimization of fractal distributor in a novel ion-exchanger. Flow distributors are adopted extensively by chemical industry to distribute an incoming process stream uniformly to the downstream equipment. Currently, the performance of chemical equipment installed with conventional distributor is severely undermined due to poor flow distribution. For conventional distributors such as spray nozzle distributors, their design concept is based on maintaining very high pressure …

Studies In Pressurized Oxy-Combustion: Process Development And Control Of Radiative Heat Transfer, Akshay Gopan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Fossil fuels supply over 80% of the world’s primary energy and more than two-thirds of the world’s electricity. Of this, coal alone accounts for over 41% of the electricity supplied globally. Though coal is globally well-distributed and can provide stable and reliable energy on demand, it emits a large amount of carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Serious concerns over the implication of the increased global temperature have prompted the investigation into low carbon energy alternatives. The idea of capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion sources is considered as one of the viable alternatives. This would …

Designing Metabolite Biosensors And Engineering Genetic Circuits To Regulate Metabolic Pathways, Di Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Microbial production of chemicals has provided an attractive alternative to chemical synthesis. A key to make this technology economically viable is to improve titers, productivities, and strain robustness. However, pathway productivities and yields are often limited by metabolic imbalances that inhibit cell growth and chemical production. In contrast, natural metabolic pathways are dynamically regulated according to cellular metabolic status. Dynamic regulation allows cells to adjust metabolite concentrations to optimal levels and avoid wasting carbon and energy. Inspired by nature, synthetic regulatory circuits have shown great promise in improving titers and productivities, because they can balance the metabolism by dynamically adjusting …

Fundamental Studies Of Flame Structure Through Laser Plasma Diagnostics, Wendong Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Increasing concerns about air pollution and global climate change are drawing attention to the need for efficiency improvements and emission reductions for combustion processes, which account for more than 85% of energy production in United States. Combustion efficiency and emissions are affected by the mixing and reacting of fuel and oxidizer. Understanding such behavior plays a critical role in flame structure studies and combustion optimization. However, experimentally obtaining mixture fraction, which is a widely used quantity to describe the mixing behavior, has proven to be a challenge, especially for heavier hydrocarbon fuels or fuel rich flames. Moreover, measuring flame temperature …

Removal Of Retained Electrospinning Solvent Prolongs Drug Release From Electrospun Plla Fibers, Anthony R. D'Amato, Nicholas J. Schaub, Jesus M. Cardenas, Andrew S. Fiumara, Paul M. Troiano, Andrea Fischetti, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A major challenge in developing drug-releasing electro spun nanofibers is obtaining long-term drug release over many weeks with no burst release of drug. Here, we present new methods capable of prolonging the diffusive release of small molecule drugs from electro spun poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) nanofibers. The methods focus on removal of retained electrospinning solvent through fiber heating, maintaining fibers in a laboratory setting, or a combination of these methods. These post-fabrication methods altered the release characteristics of a model small molecule drug, 6-aminonicotinamide (6AN), from PLLA fibers. Specifically, untreated fibers released 6AN over 9 days, and fibers that underwent a …

Catalytic Oxidation And Depolymerization Of Lignin In Aqueous Ionic Liquid, Lalitendu Das, Siquan Xu, Jian Shi

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Lignin is an integral part of the plant cell wall, which provides rigidity to plants, also contributes to the recalcitrance of the lignocellulosic biomass to biochemical and biological deconstruction. Lignin is a promising renewable feedstock for aromatic chemicals; however, an efficient and economic lignin depolymerization method needs to be developed to enable the conversion. In this study, we investigated the depolymerization of alkaline lignin in aqueous 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [C₂C₁Im][OAc] under oxidizing conditions. Seven different transition metal catalysts were screened in presence of H₂O₂ as oxidizing agent in a batch reactor. CoCl₂ and …

Mechanical Characteristics For Different Composite Materials Based On Commercial Epoxy Resins And Different Fillers, Marwa Mohamed, M. A. Radwan, M. A. Sadek, Hany A. Elazab

Chemical Engineering

The bulletproof jacket and the cassette shields of reactive armors are formed from different layers containing polymeric composite material of low density but with high resistance to penetration of high kinetic energy projectiles. Composites based on epoxies are very rigid and can resist bullet penetration specially when made with other layers of carbon fibers or Kevlar. In this work different composites based on epoxy resins were prepared and all mechanical properties were determined including resistance to high kinetic energy by falling steel ball to reach the optimum composition, which may be used in the production of the bulletproof jackets and …

Novel Synthesis Of Cigs Nanoparticles For Scalable, Benign Inks For Solution Processed Solar Cells, Jacob Fields, Ryan Ellis, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

One potential production route to high efficiency, low cost, photovoltaics (PVs) which was explored is Copper Indium Gallium Sulfide (CIGS) nanocrystal inks for solution processed PVs. A common CIGS nanocrystal ink synthesis utilizes ligands—molecules attached to the particle surface—for colloidal stability, size control, and shape control. It is desirable to devise a novel synthesis which will incorporate a ligand that allows suspensions in more benign solvents than current methods—a desirable characteristic for large scale production. In order to develop the aforementioned synthesis of CIGS nanoparticles, an optimization study of synthesis parameters was performed. Selection of an appropriate solvent, and sulfur …

Separation Of Rare Earth Elements From Aluminum Using Ion-Exchange Chromatography, Shabrina Nurfitriani, Hoon Choi, Nien-Hwa Linda Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Demand of rare earth elements (REEs) has increased tremendously due to their key roles in electronics and emerging technology. Recently, new technology was developed at Purdue to extract REEs from coal fly ash. This study is focused on the separation of aluminum ions (Al), a major impurity in the extract, from REEs. The goal is to test the feasibility of an ion-exchange process for separating REEs from a highly-concentrated Al solution. First, we reduced the resin particle size to decrease dispersion and diffusion effects, to increase resin productivity, and to reduce the amounts of REEs and the ion-exchange resin required …

Carbon Removal And Optoelectronic Property Tuning In Copper Arsenic Sulfide Thin Films Through Ligand Exchange And Alloying, Louis R. Schroeder, Scott Mcclary, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Solution processed thin film solar cells are attractive alternatives to conventional energy sources due to low waste generation, flexibility in substrate choice, and scalability. The novel semiconductor Cu3AsS4 in the enargite phase has a near ideal band gap of 1.4 eV and has earth abundant constituent elements; yet single-junction solar cells have yielded low efficiencies due to a secondary carbonaceous phase present, among other issues. This carbonaceous phase may be eliminated by exchanging the carbonaceous ligands with molecular metal chalcogenides. To characterize the ligand exchanged particles, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and …

Surface Tension, Interfacial Tension And Phase Behavior: Interactions Of Surfactant/Polymer Solutions With Crude Oil, Michael A. Steinerd, Jaeyub Chung, Bryan W. Boudouris, Nathan C. Schultheiss, Elias I. Franses

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Advanced oil recovery techniques, beyond primary and secondary recovery, are required in order to produce additional oil in existing reservoir rock. Here, we evaluated a combination of polymer and surfactant aqueous solutions, in order to generate a working fluid capable of achieving high-performance enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this recovery process, surfactant is added to the water flooding mixture in order to lower the interfacial tension between the oil and the water. If the interfacial tension can be decreased by ~1,000-fold, then the aqueous solution can mobilize and displace the oil. Moreover, a polymer is added to the aqueous solution …

Capsule-Based Dropwise Additive Manufacturing With Pharmaceutical Suspensions, Kaitlyn N. Buck, Andrew J. Radcliffe, Gintaras V. Reklaitis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Current manufacturing of pharmaceutical products focuses on creating a standard dosage of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API); however, dosages often need to be altered or customized to account for a patient’s age, weight, comorbidity, and other genetic factors. A potential method for dispensing precise dosages of API suspensions through dropwise addition is detailed in the following paper. By using a drop-on-demand printing rig, a series of suspensions comprised of varying volume fractions of a micron-scale API in a carrier fluid were printed, and individual drop volumes were analyzed using high-resolution imaging. From this, capsules with 1 mg dosages and 100 …

Modeling The Aqueous-Phase Copper Ion-Exchange Behavior Onto Ssz-13 Zeolites, Brian N. Bayer, Rajamani Gounder, Trevor M. Lardinois

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Copper-exchanged zeolites are utilized as catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides, which are atmospheric pollutants found in diesel engine exhaust. The total amount of copper ions and the types of copper species (Cu(II) or Cu(II)OH) exchanged onto a zeolite can be varied. Copper is exchanged onto SSZ-13 (an aluminosilicate zeolite with the chabazite topology) during a process known as aqueous ion exchange, where the zeolite is mixed in a copper-containing solution. The distribution of copper on SSZ-13 is influenced by exchange conditions, including the molarity, temperature, and pH of the copper solution. The effect of exchange conditions …